Engineered wood products utilize particles, such as strands, flakes, granules or the like as raw materials. For example, oriented strand board or TIMBERSTRAND® (manufactured by Weyerhaeuser Company) consists of layers of strands which are compressed to form the wood product. The strands are deposited onto, for example, a screen or directly onto the conveyor belt. Prior to being deposited, the strands are aligned by being dropped past a series of vertically-aligned disks which are disposed on one or more horizontally-aligned shafts positioned beside each other successively. These shafts and disks combine to form what is commonly referred to as a deck. The closer the disks are to one another as the strands fall through the disks, the greater the potential of achieving a desired alignment. Better alignment leads to optimal wood product properties, such as a high modulus of elasticity (MOE).
However, when longer and wider strands and/or other particles are utilized in formation of a wood product, the strands can get caught between the disks. The longer and wider strands tend to create plugs or “strand jams” in the deck. Often the plugs/jams occur between the middle deck and along one or both of the upper and lower decks. Most frequently, the plugs/jams occur on the upper deck and prevent the strands from reaching the middle deck. Removing these strands from the orienting disks can be a tedious, time-consuming and labor-intensive task. In addition, the removal may require stoppage of production, which is costly to a manufacturer.
A need, therefore, exists for systems for orienting strands and other particles which prevent accumulation of the particles between disks.